2015 Yearly Report

VALE Geoff Peters C20: 1927 - 2015

It is my sad duty to advise the death of South Australian centurion Geoff Peters (C 20) on Monday 21 February 2015.

Geoff,
aged 88, and his wife Pat were both actively involved in athletics for
over 60 years. Geoff started walking in 1942 when aged 15 and was,
until his retirement a few years ago, the longest serving registered
athlete and official in South Australia - a massive 66 years.
Similarly, Pat was the longest serving of the women's officials - an
equally impressive 64 years. Their involvement commenced well before
the amalgamation of the men's and women's associations and well back
before the 1956 Olympics.

Geoff
competed in a multitude of events over the years, initially in the
throwing and walking competitions and the popular handicap mile runs at
Adelaide Oval during breaks in the football matches. Like most men of
his age, his sporting career was interrupted by the Second World War
and he enlisted and served out his time like everyone else.

Once
the War had finished, he returned to civilian life and restarted his
stalled athletics career. He was Club Captain for many years at Western
Districts and won the State hammer throw in 1950. He eventually moved
to distance and endurance events, running a marathon in 1956 and taking
part in the Western Districts 1959 Adelaide to Port Pirie Relay event.
He had success in the walks over a long period but, in 1980, he
completed what he regarded as his greatest achievement, becoming
Australian Centurion number 20 with a one hundred miles time of
23:34:10 on the old Adelaide Harriers cinders track in Adelaide.

Coburg 6 Hour Championships, Coburg, Sunday 8 March 2015

A late move from Coburg to Clifton Hill was needed due to council works
being undertaken at our usual venue but it all worked out well on the
day. The 6 Hour Walk Championships saw wins to Michelle Thompson (C 58) with an impressive 55.073km and Robin Whyte (C 29) with 50.741km and Australian Walk age group records to ACT partnership Robin Whyte (M70-74 50.741km) and Val Chesterton (W70-74 39.965km) and Karyn O'Neill (W60-64 46.308km). The men's walk saw a great battle between Robin and John Kilmartin with
less than one lap separating them for almost the full event. But try as
he might, John was not able to bridge the short gap and he had to
settle for second place.

Coburg 6 Hour Walk - Men

1

Robin Whyte

ACT

50.741 km

2

John Kilmartin

VIC

50.479 km

3

Clarrie Jack

VIC

46.195 km

4

Saul Richardson

NSW

43.492 km

5

Gary Turner

VIC

38.639 km

6

Michael Whimpey

VIC

38.247 km

7

Terry O'Neill

VIC

37.738 km

8

Ken Carter

VIC

26.111 km

Coburg 6 Hour Walk - Women

1

Michelle Thompson

VIC

55.073 km

2

Karyn O'Neill

VIC

46.308 km

3

Val Chesterton

ACT

39.965 km

Australian Centurions 24 Hour Walk, Coburg, VIC, 18-19 April 2015

Our
2015 Australian Centurions qualifier was held in Melbourne on the
weekend of 18-19 April. As usual, we joined Coburg Harriers in their
annual Coburg 24 Hour Track Championships which also included the AURA
Australian Track Running Championships. The field of 49 starters
included 13 walkers (9 men and 4 women) and saw some fantastic running
and walking. The weather was atrocious - it rained for some 5
hours in the early evening of Saturday and, from then on, conditions
were cold with further showers. The attrition rate was high with a
number of entrants having to take time off the track or, in some cases,
stop completely.

The 24 Hour Walk event was a race of 2 halves. The first 12 hours was dominated byMichelle Thompsonas she powered through, well ahead of anyone else and on record pace. She was rewarded with Australian Open records for100km (11:38:04)and12 Hours (103.209km),
performances which only a small number of Aussie men have ever
bettered. She then stopped to have her feet checked and decided to
retire on advice as the rain had wreaked havoc with her toes and it was
a case of stop now or do some real damage.

From then on, it was theJohn Kilmartinshow
as he powered through to his 100 miles with almost unbelievable
consistency, never more than 1-2 secs variation from lap to lap. His 50
mile splits tell the story: 10:33 followed by 10:38 for a final 100
mile time of21:11:56.
He then walked a couple of extra laps for insurance purposes and called
it quits, job done for the day, having become Australian Centurion
number 67.

The
carnival also saw the annual Racewalking Australia 100km walk
championships which were won this time around by Michelle Thompson
(11:48:14) and Saul Richardson (17:37:23).

RWA 100km Championships - Men

1

John Kilmartin (C 67)

VIC

13:03:50

2

Robin Whyte (C 29)

ACT

13:59:00

3

Chris Kelly

VIC

16:15:20

RWA 100km Championships - Women

1

Michelle Thompson (C 58)

VIC

11:38:04

2

Karyn O'Neill (C 45)

VIC

17:01:23

3

Diana Kelly

WA

18:25:13

American Centurion Qualifier, Minneapolis, 6-7 June 2015

Justin and Sharon do it again

Australian centurionsJustin Scholz (C 61)andSharon Scholz (C 63)were
amongst 5 new American Centurions to be welcomed into the fold at their
annual qualifying event in Minneapolis on the weekend of 6-7 June 2015.
For the record, they were the first two walkers to reach the milestone
in22:29:51and become American CenturionsC76andC77respectively. It is Justin's third centurion walk performance and Sharon's third.

English Centurions Qualifier, Castleton, IAugust 2015

John Kilmartin becomes an English Centurion

An amazing 49 walkers completed the requisite 100 miles distance in the
annual English Centurions 24 Hour walk, held in August 2015 in
Castleton on the Isle of Man. And Ballarat based AustralianCenturion John Kilmartin (C 67)was
amongst them. He qualified as a centurion in Australia in April with a
fine 100 mile walk time of 21:11:56. He walked a similarly powerful
race in Castleton, well back early (down towards 30th place) and then
storming through the field to finish 7th overall with21:26:48.
It was a dream come true for John who had targeted this walk earlier
this year. He had been putting in a lot of long walking through the
bitterly cold Ballarat winter and it all paid off with a superb
performance.

NZ Centurion Qualifier, Auckland, 3-4 October 2015

Justin and Sharon do it again

Australian centurionsJustin Scholz (C 61)andSharon Scholz (C 63)have
added third centurion badges to their collection, both completing 100
miles in Auckland in the annual NZ Centurions qualifying event on 3-4
October 2015. As usual, they walked together, passing their 100 mile
target in a time of22:24:28and
going on to a total distance of 170.853km within the 24 hour period.
Justin becomes NZ Centurion 20 and Sharon becomes NZ Centurion 21.

Records in 2015

2015 was a bumper year with lots of records falling to our talented walkers.